Someone once suggested that in order to preserve all the research work we do into our families, we include a provision for it, in our Will, to be archived correctly, like donating all the certificates, family trees etc to a related Family History Society. Some of our children may be just as addicted to the research hobby as ourselves, but some may not be. So that may be a really good idea!

When we speak of 'all our research', do we just mean the online family trees, the reams of DOB's, Marriages, Christenings, Burials and Censuses? What about the keepsakes from our own children; those kindergarten paintings we've kept and now those kids are parents themselves! Can we store all those papers, crafts and special things that mean so much to us now?!

In 1854, WILLIAM HOLESGROVE, Boot & Shoemaker at 66/67 Burlington Arcade, Picadilly, London, died. One Hundred and Fifty Seven years later, (2011) when someone read my blog about WILLIAM HOLESGROVE as a shoemaker in Burlington Arcade, they emailed me to say that someone had donated a pair of ladies shoes, dated by experts from the early 1800's, to their museum, with the following label inside: HOLESGROVE BOOT & SHOE MAKER, 67 BURLINGTON ARCADE, PICCADILLY!

WOW! Unfortunately I haven't yet seen the shoes, and I'm not sure if they were just on loan to the museum, but thank you to the person who kept this pair of shoes! It made my year to see the photos they sent me with the label clearly legible inside the pearly silk dainty soft shoes!

Having researched my own family: STREET, ASH, and HAWLEY in Derbyshire, ASHFORTH in Blackpool, and all the other in-between names, and my husbands family: KELLAND in Dartmouth, Devon, CROSSLEY in Lancashire, and HOLESGROVE in Chelsea, London, etc. I have not come across any illegitimate children! Some children were born quite soon after the parents marriage, but none openly as children of single women.

Today of course this is not something we consider abnormal, but in the past it was something to be ashamed of. In upper class families it was easy to send the young mother to be away, away from her friends and gossiping neighbours. In the poorer families, it just happened and it was either accepted or covered up with some story of it being a relatives child.

Great great uncle ALBERT STREETs wife was SARAH JANE HITCHCOCK. Her father brought her up while living with his in laws after his wife died within a couple of years of Sarah Janes birth. Her father THOMAS HITCHCOCK, maybe had a little more help and tolerance having seen his sister HANNAH HITCHCOCK, bring up three children as an unwed mother!

HANNAH was born in 1821 in Ockbrook, Derbyshire. The 1851 census lists her parents, JAMES and MARY with their son SAMUEL, unmarried, son THOMAS, unmarried, daughter HANNAH unmarried, but three grandsons, JOHN, AMOS and SILAS HITCHCOCK. It was only when a fellow genealogist sent me the All Saints Ockbrook list of baptisms that the relationships came to light.

JOHN, AMOS and SILAS (not many kids with those names so easy to trace!) were HANNAHs children and the baptism records note that she was a Single Woman. Where the fathers name is usually written, the name WILLIAM TWIGG was apparently crossed out! (The TWIGG family still a big name in Steel work in Matlock Derbyshire!)

One can imagine a one-off mistake, but Hannah had three children as a Single Woman with WILLIAM TWIGG noted and crossed out on the baptism record, as the father! All three were baptised on 21 September 1849, but from the 1851 census record JOHN was born in 1842, AMOS in 1844 and SILAS in 1846.

So who was WILLIAM TWIGG? Why did he not marry HANNAH HITCHCOCK? Was he already married!? Was he her boss at the Cotton Mill she worked at, and she felt obliged to do what he wanted to keep her job? Or were they both simply rebels? Quite the thing stories are made from!

In 1861, HANNAH was still with her parents and JOHN and AMOS, both boys now working. JOHN, 19 years, was an agricultural labourer and AMOS, 16 years, an operative in the cotton mill, probably the same one as his mother. SILAS was living in Shardlow and a cow boy, age 15.

The British Newspaper Archives can keep me occupied for hours, so with names like SILAS and AMOS I was sure I would find something in the Derbyshire papers. Sure enough, there was Amos, proving the need for the much disparaged UK Heath & Safety laws!!

Derby Mercury 18th February 1863.

On Wednesday last, Mr WHISTON held an inquest on the body of AMOS HITCHCOCK,, labourer, Ockbrook, who met with his death under very distressing circumstances. The deceased was employed at the mill of Messrs. TOWLE, of Borrowash, and on Tuesday was engaged with others in repairing the water wheel, which was out of gear. The water having previously been stopped by planks, the deceased was in the drum or interior part of the wheel, when the wheel began suddenly to revolve. It was soon discovered that the water was falling upon the wheel. Mr BILLINGS, the manager, was on the spot, and heard the unfortunate man cry out, Oh, dear! The wheel was at once stopped, and deceased extricated in an insensible state. He had received a deep flesh wound on the forehead, and a bruise on the temple, and though he rallied for a few hours, notwithstanding medical aid, death put an end to his sufferings. He was 19 years of age, and bore an excellent character for steadiness and sobriety. The jury returned a verdict of Accidental death. They were, however, of opinion that the planks were not sufficiently safe, and desired the coroner to recommend a permanent paddle for the prevention of similar occurrences. The coroner stated these facts to the manager, who said he had no doubt the recommendation would be complied with.

Poor young man. Oh, dear! ? Quite the English understatement!

The story did not end there! In 1864 HANNAH HITCHCOCK age 43 got married! She married BENJAMIN COOK a 49 year old widower also from Ockbrook. (It seems he got a 14day jail sentence for stealing a shirt & shift in 1855!)

A number of people have done 'one-place studies' of areas or cities and www.wirksworth.org.uk is most certainly my favourite! The fact that it is also totally FREE is an incredible bonus. John Palmer is also a member of the rootsweb mailing list 'derbysgen' and he shares so much information on the list as well! Of course through the mailing lists (http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/) one finds 'cousins' we never knew about and will probably never meet, but what fun comparing notes! One member I found shares my great grandmother (I think!)and sent me a thick wad of papers of his research (I think he was writing a book!)

Through another I found the most beautiful photograph of my great grandfather. I am fortunate that my mother has written down her life story and I immediately recognised the photo from her description. The joys of technology and the internet mean I could print out the photo of both Great Grandfather JOSEPH ASH and Great Grandmother EMMA SLATER, A4 size and now my mother (92) treasures her photos!

Putting your personal details on the internet is often not recommended in these days, but in family history it's certainly a bonus! 'Someone' saw an article I'd done mentioning his own grandparents and emailed me. Through this stranger's contact, I got in contact with his father in Canada (I'm in UK)- who is my father's cousin! They have written to me a few times and also made contact with my Mother! New family!

The rootsweb mailing lists often throw up names and dates of people totally unrelated to me, but my computer has a delete button and it doesn't bother me that I get such a lot of 'useless' information! Because every now and then a gem sparkles on the screen. So all the Derbysgen mailing list members are good Genealogy Friends! We share information which often times we've had to pay for, but are willing to share it with others, knowing that they will do the same for us!

As mentioned earlier, there was a time when we thought we were the only KELLAND's in South Africa! Except one stray in Johannesburg, who didn't seem to fit in. Until something was uncovered which may have been best left.

Letters in the South African National Archives with the KELLAND surname and 'Child Protection' attached to it, sounded intriguing. They were sad letters from a distraught, destitute father to the governor of South Africa begging for help. The father I had already identified as the KELLAND family grandfather, the one they never knew (he died before the current generation were born). However when he mentioned in the letter that he had a sickly wife and TWO young sons, that was a revelation! There was only one son - the KELLAND father! Who was this other son? A lost uncle?

What effect would it have on the family themselves knowing their own father was being mentioned in these letters? As a researcher and a kind of 'outsider' to the family, I was able to read these letters, but with sadness, and I was able to piece together the story.

It seems that Grandfather married a lady who brought a young son with her from a previous 'encounter' ! So the records were confused as to the child's surname - should he be known by her married name or her maiden name?! After recommendations that he was sent to an 'industrial school', his trail ends. I have a letter he wrote as a young angry boy, letters about him from a bitter aunt, and police records. He wasn't KELLAND blood, but he had a rough life and I still wish I could trace his movement. He had an unusual name (it's too recent to mention too many details), and maybe one day something will pop up. But it was a rough journey finding this sad story.

It prompted me to write a fictitious story, based on a true story - as the saying goes!

Which genealogy challenge has given you the best sense of accomplishment? What was the research problem you had to hurdle? What steps did you take that led to success? Do you have any words of encouragement for others who are facing their own genealogy challenges?

There was a time when my family, and I, thought we were the only KELLAND's in South Africa! There was one other mentioned in the Johannesburg phone book, but we had no idea where he had come from and didn't really want to know! I married into the KELLAND family so there's my husband and myself and my three children, (one daughter now married so left the KELLAND name!), my husband's brother and his wife (x2 still with the KELLAND name) and their children (x 3). My father-in-law died in 1979 and my mother-in-law in 2002, and we thought we could safely say we were the only KELLAND's in South Africa!

But where did we start? In about 2005 I determined to find out and simply googled the name KELLAND. This was while I was still in South Africa and working on an expensive dial-up system - paying for every precious second on our our phone bill. It was then I discovered that there's an area in Randburg, Johannesburg, called KELLAND! Which of course made my research extremely difficult! (And I still haven't found out how that area got our name!) For long nights I'd skim through the Google intros and then note down which page I'd got to to start the next night.

My eureka came when I found a FRANCIS ARTHUR KELLAND and the city of East London (SA)in one Google hit. Why did this stand out? Because my father-in-law's name was PHILIP EDMOND FRANCIS KELLAND, my husband's middle name is ARTHUR, and the KELLAND's have a history in East London! Coincidence?

Turned out that this FRANCIS ARTHUR KELLAND, (thanks to Keith Tankard) was the KELLAND Great Grandfather! (see earlier blog). From their I traced him to Dartmouth and through the KELLAND One Name Society run by Martin Kelland in the UK, discovered a fully grown orchard - they sent me family trees showing my branch of the family going back to 1567.

So the lessons are: Research may mean trawling through Google if you've only got the internet or are living in a different country (although my other names, STREET, ASH are not so easy to do that with!)and be very rewarding. But finding all that information already written up, discovered, DOB, DOM, DOD's already written in was quite a let down. Don't get me wrong, it was great to find them all the way back to the 1500's, but I didn't have the satisfaction of having found it out myself! So what do I do now?

Well then I trawled the newspapers (as far as I could FREE!) and found out stories of a Trinity Pilot Cousin in Dartmouth who almost drowned, presumed missing, and who washed up on the beach - alive! A 2x Great Uncle who got his chief mate's rank aged 25, and I also discovered that there's a number of people trying to find a certain French Army Officer called ANTHONY DEMARCHYE - he was the father of our 3xgreat grandmother. There's a few of us related to him and we all have the marriage certificate on which he's listed as the father - but nothing else appears to be available!

So some satisfaction and some frustration with some expectation! All in a day\'s research!

FRANCIS ARTHUR KELLAND was born on 2nd March 1857 in Dartmouth, Devon, England. He married ANNE JANE GILLARD on
3rd November 1882 at St Petrox Church, Dartmouth, Devon.

At the age of 14 (1871 census), FRANCIS KELLAND was a 'Painter's Apprentice' and when he moved to East London in South Africa he was an interior decorator, and a partner in the firm 'KELLAND & BOOTH' who were coach painters, trimmers, outfitters and general decorators. He is remembered for his work on the decoration of the Masonic Temple (Free Masons) in East London, and as the 'original painter' of the City Hall in East London (Die Burger 1 June 1991).

FRANCIS & ANNIE's son FRANCIS ROBERT was born on the 11th February 1884 (as per gravestone), and presumably in East London (i.e. not England), but this has not yet been confirmed. In August 1889 FRANCIS ARTHUR KELLAND was elected to the East London town council and stayed there until 1895 when he resigned due to business reasons.

So if he FRANCIS ARTHUR was married in 1882 in Dartmouth, England, and if his son was born in East London in February 1884, when did he and his wife travel to South Africa?! In January 1883 he "was raised to the degree of Master Mason", as was reported in the Exeter & Plymouth Gazette, Friday 12 Jan 1883, so the sailing date had to be somewhere between this January 1883 date and February 1884 when their son was born (there is no record for FRANCIS ROBERT KELLAND in freebmd!)

I found familytreecircles via a roundabout link looking for KELLAND's and found some New Zealand burials!
Definitely piqued my interest as I hadn't thought of New Zealand as somewhere for the KELLAND's! I haven't
examined much, but maybe something will turn up! My KELLAND family (I married into the Kelland family) come from Dartmouth, Devon, England. GG Grandfather FRANCIS ARTHUR KELLAND and his wife ANNIE JANE GILLARD emigrated to South Africa around 1883.

My paternal side are the STREET family and I know there's some in NZ or Aus, but I don't think they're mine! We lived in Matlock, Derbyshire, England and thereabouts. Much the same as my maternal side ASH, came from the same place.

The STREET & KELLAND met in South Africa (my parents & I emigrated from UK to SA) and now we've returned to UK
- well part of our family!

So,on my side: STREETs from Derbyshire; ASH's from Derbyshire; HAWLEY's from Derbyshire and others but all Derbyshire;
On my husband's side: KELLAND's from Dartmouth; CROSSLEY's from Lancashire; HOLESGROVE's from Chelsea, London and others.